A federal prosecutor says she is preparing to target newspapers, radio stations and other media outlets that advertise medical marijuana dispensaries in California, further escalation in the federal government’s newly invigorated war against the state’s pot industry, California Watch reported today.

Last week, U.S. attorneys representing four districts in California announced a crackdown on large-scale commercial marijuana profiteers, who they say have hijacked the state’s medical marijuana laws to get rich illegally. They also warned that they will single out landlords and property owners who rent buildings or land where dispensaries sell or cultivators grow marijuana, and seize their assets.

Now U.S. Attorney Laura E. Duffy, whose district includes Imperial and San Diego counties, says marijuana advertising is the next area she’s “going to be moving onto as part of the enforcement efforts in Southern California.” Duffy said she could not speak for the three other U.S. attorneys covering the state, but noted their efforts have been coordinated so far.

“I’m not just seeing print advertising,” Duffy said in an interview with California Watch and KQED. “I’m actually hearing radio and seeing TV advertising. It’s gone mainstream. Not only is it inappropriate – one has to wonder want kind of message we’re sending to our children – it’s against the law.”

The issue is part of the extended friction over California’s Proposition 215, approved by voters in 1996, which legalized the use of marijuana to treat pain and other medical issues through non-profit distribution of the drug. The U.S. attorneys maintain that overtly commercial marijuana enterprises have instead proliferated, producing millions of dollars in profits for people who have no role in helping the sick or infirm.

They say many clinics are supplied by illegal drug traffic.

California Watch said federal law prohibits people from placing ads for illegal drugs, including marijuana, in “any newspaper, magazine, handbill or other publication.” The law could conceivably extend to online ads; the U.S. Department of Justice recently extracted a $500 million settlement from Google for selling illegal ads linking to online Canadian pharmacies.

William G. Panzer, an attorney who specializes in marijuana defense cases, told California Watch that publishers may have a reason to worry. Federal law singles out anyone who “places” an illegal ad in a newspaper or publication.

“Technically, if I’m running the newspaper and somebody gives me money and says, ‘Here’s the ad,’ I’m the one who is physically putting the ad in my newspaper,” he said. “I think this could be brought against the actual newspaper. Certainly, it’s arguable, but the statute is not entirely clear on that.”